STANDING WITH JESUS ON GOOD FRIDAY

It’s Good Friday, a solemn day when we reflect on how Jesus died in our place on the cross, to pay the penalty for our sin.  Remember these moments as Jesus was breathing His last and dying on our behalf.

One of two thieves hanging beside Him asks forgiveness which Jesus graciously promises.  Others standing around the cross who should have understood from the scriptures that Jesus was their Messiah giving His life for them, mocked Him instead.  Still, Jesus, who could have called down judgment on them stayed on the cross and died there for them and for all of us.

Is it any wonder that when Jesus died, one of the soldiers guarding Him said this: 

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” Luke 23: 44

Others didn’t quite know what to think except to be shocked and saddened.

When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.  Luke 23:45-49

On this Good Friday we are stopped dead in our tracks, so to speak, in amazement, Lord Jesus, at the depth of Your love for us.  While we didn't care, while we scorned You and Your involvement in the earth and our lives You acted on our behalf at huge personal cost.  Until the last moment you could have escaped becoming sin and the death and separation from Your Father that resulted, but You voluntarily laid down Your life.  We remember with amazement and our hearts are filled with gratitude.

We try to look today at all You did for us from our little pinprick of time and it's hard to take in. You did so much more for us than we will ever know until we see you face to face in heaven.  And so we pray for ourselves and each other along with the ancient writer Paul:

I bow in prayer to the Father because of my work among you. From the Father every family in heaven and on earth gets its name. I pray that he will use his glorious riches to make you strong. May his Holy Spirit give you his power deep down inside you. Then Christ will live in your hearts because you believe in him. And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation. May you have power together with all the Lord’s holy people to understand Christ’s love. May you know how wide and long and high and deep it is. And may you know his love, even though it can’t be known completely. Then you will be filled with everything God has for you. Ephesians 3:14-19

It’s a solemn day and a day to just try to be with God and let this deepest of all truths soak into our lives in life-changing ways.